Last
week, we visited to see its latest exhibition, “The Paintings of Sir
Winston Churchill,” co-sponsored by the National Churchill Museum
in Fulton, Missouri (home of Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech and with a
first-class museum on Churchill in World War II). Timothy Riley, paintings
curator for the National Churchill Museum, curated this exhibition at the
Kemper.

In
some ways, this felt like old home week.

Kemper Art Museum

One
of the people instrumental in bringing the exhibition together was Richard
Mahoney, the CEO for whom I wrote speeches for seven years. He was more than a
fan of Churchill; he was a collector of Churchill memorabilia and had read
virtually everything about the British statesman. One thing you may not know
about speechwriters is that, if they’re worth their pay, they will read what
their speakers read. Wall Street Journal,
check. Business Week, check. The History of the English Speaking Peoples
(four volumes)? The History of World War
II (six volumes)? And does anyone know how many speeches Churchill gave?

It
was a lot of work. Things went fine until the CEO started reading Charles
Dickens, starting with The Pickwick
Papers. I ended up buying the 21-volume set of Charles Dickens' works
published by Oxford University Press. And read Peter Ackroyd’s 1000+page biography of
Dickens. On the cool side, I was about the only person I know who ever got paid
for reading the works and biography of Dickens in the office. (The vice
chairman at the time, for whom I also wrote speeches, was a major fan of Mark
Twain. Yes, I’ve had an unusual career, even for a communications person.)

At
one time, four paintings by Churchill hung in our company’s conference center.
At least three of those are in this exhibition at the Kemper Art Museum (I’m
uncertain about the fourth). Many of these paintings have a history, and the exhibition
tells those histories. One, of Marrakech, was painted while Churchill and Franklin
Roosevelt met at Casablanca; it was the only painting he did during World War
II and he gave it to Roosevelt. Another, of the surf at Miami Beach, was
painted in the six weeks in 1946 Churchill stayed there while preparing the
Iron Curtain speech. Still another was submitted under another name to an
amateur competition and won first proze, although one judge dissented and said
no amateur could have painted it.

It’s
a wonderful exhibition, with works loaned by the Getty Museum, the Hallmark Art
Collection in Kansas City, the Chartwell Art Collection, and numerous private
collections. Churchill painting about 550 paintings, and about 50 are included
at the Kemper show. It runs through Feb. 14. For sale in the Kemper shop is Sir
Winston Churchill: His Life and His Paintings by David Coombs with
Minnie Churchill; the price is $55 (although, oddly enough, Amazon sells it for
considerably more.)

Right
across the hallway from the Churchill exhibition was one on World War I; more
on that tomorrow.

A Light Shining

Dancing Priest

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About Me

Professional writer exploring faith and culture, life and work; happily married to Janet, the love of my life; father of two grown sons. Award-winning speechwriter and communication consultant. I am also a contributing editor for The High Calling and for TweetSpeak Poetry. I am also the author of the novels "Dancing Priest" and "A Light Shining," and the non-fiction book "Poetry at Work."